The Walking Dead: Return of an Old Friend

What an episode. After the rather lackluster "I Ain't A Judas," Walking Dead came back remarkably strong with "Clear," an episode that brought back Morgan from the pilot and delivered some hardcore character work. As always, we had a chat with series creator and executive producer Robert Kirkman about the episode's events.

IGN TV: So I have to say, I really loved this episode. The return of Morgan I think is something that’s always been in the back of people’s minds, and I think this definitely delivered in a big way. Was it always intended for him to make a return at some point?

Robert Kirkman: Yeah, ever since that guy appeared in the pilot episode, we’ve always been throwing out different stories here and there as to how to bring him back. In the comic book series, he comes back in a somewhat similar fashion, I think probably much later in the comic than he has appeared in the show. There were always plans to bring him back but as we were working out story and mapping out season two, it just kind of got pushed to the wayside and fell into season three the way it has.

IGN: It seems like running into Morgan has come at a crucial point for Rick. In a lot of ways, I think Morgan is a very possible future for Rick if he continues on the path he’s on. Do you think this experience with Morgan will help Rick cope with the problems he’s dealing with?

Kirkman: We really tried to stage this episode as Rick looking into a mirror and seeing, you know, “Hey, if you keep going down the road you’re going, if you don’t get it together, if you don’t pull it together for Carl and Judith, you’re going to be just like Morgan.” This is supposed to be a wake up moment for him. We’ll see whether or not it is, but that was definitely in the thinking of putting this episode together.

IGN: How do you think it’s going to change Rick in terms of how he views human threats? Obviously the Governor and his people are a problem, but if Rick had run into that hitchhiker, for instance, on the way back from Morgan’s instead of on the way there, do you think he would’ve stopped?

Kirkman: That’s an interesting question. I think it’s entirely possible, but part of that hitchhiker story is playing up the fact that now that they’ve had their interactions with the Governor and their interactions with the people in that bar, it’s just not safe to talk to somebody out in the open like that. You don’t know if there’s a group of people in the woods waiting to ambush you or what the actual intention of that person is or if they’re just crazy.

I mean, they’ve encountered a lot of very dangerous people out on the road, so maybe the interaction with Morgan would’ve changed Rick to a point where he would’ve at least talked to that guy, but I don’t know. I think there’s still a good chance he would’ve just driven past him again.

IGN: I was really happy that Michonne got a chance to show some personality in this episode, especially with Carl. I know you’ve said before that you guys are playing a long game with her, so from that point of view, is it rewarding as writers to get to dig into this character a little more?

Kirkman: Yeah, it’s awesome to have characters that you get to know and you think you know everything about them and you think you get their personality, and then layers peel back and you get to see them in a different light. I think this episode did that really well. Michonne is actually kind of funny and very personable in this episode. I think that’s a product of her opening up to Rick and Carl in a very personal way. I think we’re probably going to be seeing a little bit more of that moving forward.

IGN: I think this is the second episode this season that is really specific in its vision, dealing with just one group and really exploring them in depth. Is this something that the longer episode count of this season has freed you up to do?

Kirkman: Yeah, now that we have 16 episodes we are able to explore the characters a little bit more. And also, I think that these kinds of episodes where we focus on fewer characters and get to really dive into them a little bit more. I believe episode ten from season two where Rick and Shane go off to get rid of Randall is another episode like this. We’re going to be doing stuff like this from time to time throughout the show, focusing on characters in a really intense and specific way.

I think it provides a good breather for everything that was going on in the show at this point. There’s a tremendous amount of tension between all the characters in the prison and everything that’s going on with the Governor and Woodbury. This is a good way to put it all in perspective and back off of it a little bit so that when we dive into it next episode in a pretty intense way, it’ll be a little fresher and a little bit more interesting.

Exit Theatre Mode

IGN: Anything you wanted to add about this episode?

Kirkman: I’ll just say that I think Scott Gimple did an amazing job on this episode. It’s one of my favorite episodes and there’s just a really cool attention to detail and things like that that Scott puts into his writing that comes through in this episode that is pretty remarkable. That guy deserves a pat on the back for all the hard work he put into it.